SF360: Things You May or May Not Know About Miranda July

For close to a decade now, Miranda July has been exploring and often crossing the traditional boundaries between life and the movies. One of her best early short videos, 1998's "The Amateurist," hinges on the relationship between one woman and a mute look-alike figure she sees on her TV screen--a bond that takes on greater comic pathos when the viewer situates him or herself in relation to this Quaker Oats box mise en scene. Performance pieces such as 1999's "Love Diamond" and 2001's "The Swan Tool" have involved both elaborate and intentionally crude interactions between July and video projections--an approach that she continues to build upon in her current work-in-progress, "Things We Don't Understand and Definitely Are Not Going to Talk About," which will be performed twice locally next week as a benefit for San Francisco Cinematheque. Johnny Ray Huston reports.

For close to a decade now, Miranda July has been exploring and often crossing the traditional boundaries between life and the movies. One of her best early short videos, 1998's "The Amateurist," hinges on the relationship between one woman and a mute look-alike figure she sees on her TV screen--a bond that takes on greater comic pathos when the viewer situates him or herself in relation to this Quaker Oats box mise en scene. Performance pieces such as 1999's "Love Diamond" and 2001's "The Swan Tool" have involved both elaborate and intentionally crude interactions between July and video projections--an approach that she continues to build upon in her current work-in-progress, "Things We Don't Understand and Definitely Are Not Going to Talk About," which will be performed twice locally next week as a benefit for San Francisco Cinematheque. Johnny Ray Huston reports.